 In the Face of Courage On September 11, Judy Colfer, MSA's acting director of logistics, was "15 minutes into" a seminar on the 55th floor of One World Trade Center when a plane hit the building. She escaped, barely five minutes before that building collapsed, thanks to superbly trained and selfless firefighters, police officers, and emergency technicians who guided her and hundreds of others down hundreds of dimly lit stairs. The air was heavy with the odor of jet fuel. As Colfer related, "It took forever, but I was
going down. The firefighters who passed us were going up. Each carried
two cylinders of air, extra hose, a sledge hammer, and a pick. "I remember one firefighter. . . . He was fully equipped. . . burdened with that heavy equipment. . . . I saw an Evolution® 4000 thermal imaging camera on his belt. As he gently told me I would get out, I saw terror in his eyes. He knew he wouldn't make it. . . .They took care of us in that stairwell, and then continued climbing toward certain death." Read the details of Colfer's heart-stopping escape on MSA's web site. Go to www.MSAnet.com, click on the box with the flag, and find the "news articles." Selfless courage is too great to put into words. But our hearts and minds, prayers and thoughts are with those courageous fighters, those inevitable victims, their loved ones, our fellow Americans. Just like other Americans, we grieve. And we are proud to continue doing what we do best: protect onsite workers for as long as it takes. In New York, Washington, and Somerset County. September 11, 2001. MSA was there. We're always
there. Doing what we can. For as long as it takes.
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They
reassured us that we would make it. Obviously knowing the building,
they smashed in the doors every 10 floors, broke open vending machines,
and tossed bottled water and rolls of paper towels out to us in the
stairwell. They shouted, 'Soak the paper towel with water, and cover
your face for protection from the fumes!' 
